Choosing Solid Wood Furniture for Your Home

Find your style before you actually begin to shop for your wood furniture can reduce frustration and add to the enjoyment of selecting the right furniture pieces.  Browse through the furniture selections and displays at your local home furnishings store to look for the types and styles of wood furniture that appeal to you.  Look through your favorite magazines, books, catalogs, and websites for inspiration.  Measure the room where you want your new furniture to be placed; notes any fixtures such as electrical outlets, window placements, and traffic flows.  Consult with your local interior decorator to help you make your final purchasing decision; take your time and you will be rewarded.  Here are tips for choosing the well-made pieces.

• Know your woods.  Materials affect durability, cost, and the look of the furniture.  Hardwoods are more expensive and more durable than softwoods.  Hardwoods come from trees that lose their leaves seasonally.  Hardwoods that often used in making furniture are ash, cherry, birch, maple, oak, pecan, teak, rosewood, walnut, mahogany, and poplar.  Birch is almost white, stains well, and is resistance to shrinking, swelling, and warping.  Oak takes stain well and easy to carve.  Walnut and mahogany tend to shrink.  Softwoods come from trees that keep their foliage all year.  They are pine, fir, cedar, cypress, and redwood.  Cedar and cypress are durable for outdoors.  Pine is prone to shrinking, swelling, and warping; more people paint their pine furniture.  Exotic woods from all over the world are often incorporated into decorative inlays and veneer pattern.  Some exotic woods are Olive wood from the Mediterranean regions, Curly Bulinga from Cameroon, Africa, or Bocote from Mexico.   

• Wood construction.  Sometimes, the term solid wood furniture such as solid rosewood or solid mahogany means that all exposed part of the furniture are made of solid wood-not necessarily made of rosewood, but may be of rosewood finish; the frame or other parts not visible to the eye might be made from other wood such as gum or poplar.  The back panel of a well-made wood furniture would be made of real wood and insert into the case instead of simply nailed onto the back edge; this technique contribute to the furniture overall stability.  The hardware should be secure and strong with no rough edges.  Entertainment units should have holes for electric cords.  All tables and chair legs should be the same length and even.  When you rock a well constructed table, it should have balance and solidly heavy feel to it; chairs should not “give”.  All wood corners should be stabilized with corner braces and double-doweled joints.  Long shelves should have center supports and table leaves should fit properly. 

• Finishes.  Finishes can vary the look of wood furniture, making it appear smooth and sophisticated or rough-hewn and rustic.  A finish which provides uniform colors and adds degrees of protection requires several coats of oil, wax, lacquer, or paint to the surface.  Clear finishes allow the marking and grain variations of the natural woods to show through, while tinted or opaque finishes change the color of the wood and can make two different woods appear the same.  Most painted furniture can cost more than the piece with natural finishes because paint tends to draw out flows from the woods, so finishers must take extra care to remove or fix the woods’ imperfection.  Finishes should feel smooth to the touch except for distressed finishes.  Distressing is another technique for aging new wood furniture and heightening its rustic appeal; it should have randomly spaced dark marks.  Distressed finishes furniture can be a good choice for rooms where there is a lot of activity; it hides smudges, fingerprint marks, and scratches. 

• Check all moving parts.  Make sure doors and drawers fit well.  Doors swing open easily without squeaking or rubbing and are attached with sturdy hinges.  Make sure a drawer have glides and stopped and glides easily when pulled.  Inside of drawers should be smooth and snag-free, the drawer corners are joined securely, and have dust panels.  Dust panels keep dust and pests from coming under the furniture and soil your contents; they are not critical to the structural integrity of your furniture.

According to a neuro marketing company that study consumer behavior, decorating your home with one of a kind furniture or unique piece of art can give you a sense of authenticity and overall positive emotion.  Indulge yourself in a well-crafted wood furniture; it will enhance your mood and make a little home improvement that you can enjoy for generations; proven; guarantee.